Obasan

Joy Kogawa

Chapters 1 and 2

Chapters 3 and 4, page 2

page 1 of 2

Summary: Chapter 3

Speaking loudly so that her deaf Obasan (aunt in
Japanese) can hear, Naomi asks if Uncle suffered. We now understand
that Uncle is dead. While Obasan makes tea, Naomi looks around at
the familiar clutter of the house. She sees that Obasan’s eyes and
mouth are gummy, and notes that she has never seen Obasan cry.

A loaf of Uncle’s homemade bread sitting on the counter
reminds Naomi of his first attempt at baking. Naomi was ten, and
wanted to try a recipe for bread. Uncle wound up doing the baking
himself, and produced a rock-hard loaf. Naomi’s older brother, Stephen, tried
to serve it to her with margarine, but she refused to eat. Over the
years, Uncle refined the recipe, but the results were always terrible.

Obasan describes the morning’s events. Uncle was taken
to the hospital, where he died. Naomi wonders to herself what Uncle’s
last hours were like. She wonders whether he returned to the sea,
or to his mother. She thinks about what Obasan will do. She realizes
that Stephen won’t help her. He is a moody, restless man.

Obasan says that she is too old, and then goes to scrape
the mud from Naomi’s boots. As Naomi wonders if Obasan could live
with her, Obasan says that both her body and the house are old.
Naomi reflects that the house and all its clutter are inextricably
linked to Obasan. Watching her aunt crouch over the boots, Naomi
thinks that Obasan is the same as old women in France, or Mexico,
or anywhere else on earth.

Summary: Chapter 4

Naomi thinks about Grandma Nakane, Uncle’s mother. She
was imprisoned in Vancouver Hastings Park, an internment camp, during
World War II. Naomi remembers a family photograph depicting her
closest relatives. Dr. and Mrs. Kato were her maternal grandparents,
and Mr. and Mrs. Nakane her paternal grandparents. Grandpa Nakane,
a boat builder, moved to Canada first, in 1893. He
married his cousin’s widow, who had a son by her first husband. This
son, Isamu, is the man Naomi calls Uncle. He married Ayako, the
woman Naomi calls Obasan. Obasan has told Naomi that she married
Uncle for the sake of Grandma Nakane, who shared Obasan’s love of
music. Obasan bore two stillborn children. After the second birth,
Aunt Emily gave Uncle and Obasan a puppy.

In the photo, Naomi’s father holds baby Stephen. Naomi’s mother
is next to her sister, Emily. Naomi sees no resemblance between
Aunt Emily, who is chubby, and Mother, who is delicate. Even as
a girl, Naomi sensed tension and unhappiness in the family. Naomi’s
mother and father, who were the first in their community not to
have an arranged marriage, worked hard to draw their two families
together. Naomi makes a vague reference to a worrisome letter from
Japan that arrived after her own birth. She says that if her family
was once close, it isn’t anymore.